With the curriculum and assessment changes that came with the Junior Cycle, a new grading system was created, different to the standard A grade, B grade etc.

This system is utterly ridiculous as it makes a top grade (distinction) utterly impossible and groups people that got 55% and 75% in an exam in the same grade (merit).

I’m sure that you can agree that there is a significant difference between a student achieving 55% and 75%.

The reasoning behind the change:

A common excuse for the new system is that most A grades achieved are getting 85-90% (An “A” is from 85%-100%) and having a “Distinction” replace this, means that it is an elite grade (anything above 90%)

This makes a Distinction out of reach from most students and is very disheartening when students work very hard to get the top grade and they miss it out by 1% and get put in the same boat as people that got 75% and higher.

We say that anyone that gets over 85% deserves the top grade! This new system makes zero sense and we’re calling to revert back to the original system!